Nine foreign-policy experts assess the Iraq quagmire

Where do we go from here?
Nine foreign-policy experts assess the Iraq quagmire
INTERVIEWS BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN, ADAM REILLY, AND SUSAN RYAN-VOLLMAR

ONE YEAR AFTER the invasion of Iraq, everything that could go wrong, it seems, has. Predictions by experts that the US was invading without enough troops to maintain order in a post-Saddam Iraq have turned out to be painfully true. Within days of the regime's collapse, looters raided the country's precious art treasures, its hospitals, and most other public buildings. Security for Iraqi citizens, outside of the northern Kurdish areas, remains an elusive goal. The county's infrastructure, already devastated by years of neglect under Saddam's regime, has not been rehabilitated. Meanwhile, the fighting continues. Last week, 60 Americans died in combat ?- more than during any other week since the war began.

While the ferocious battles that broke out two weeks ago in Fallujah and Sadr City calmed down this week, ongoing fierce resistance by Iraqis ?- both Sunnis and Shiites alike ?- belies initial predictions by Vice-President Dick Cheney and other Bush-administration officials that US troops would be greeted as liberators. As the June 30 deadline for a transfer of authority from US forces to an Iraqi governing body approaches, it's becoming increasingly clear that no viable government institution is ready to receive that authority. Amid all this, of course, no weapons of mass destruction have been found.

It's not clear what the US should do next. Without the presence of international troops, American or otherwise, it seems likely that the country could devolve into civil war. But there is no guarantee that sending in more troops will solve anything, and how best to proceed remains frustratingly unclear. Against this backdrop, the Phoenix asked nine experts on foreign policy and the Middle East for their assessment of current events in Iraq. They talked about comparisons with Vietnam and the Intifadah, the biggest mistakes of the occupation, and what the US must do to salvage the situation. Edited excerpts follow.

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